Consequences of a Suicide
by lightning king
Summary: Everyone knows that in the manga Kakashi tells Sasuke not to worry when facing Zabuza.  What happens if he doesn't though.  This story shows what would have happened if Kakashi kept silent.  First fanfic ever... should be interesting.
1. Chapter 1

"8 choices. Liver, lungs, spine, clevical vein, brain, neck vein, kidney, heart. Which one should I go after?" asked Zabuza menacingly. Slowly more and more killing intent leaked out of the hidden ninja.

"The intensity of a Jounins facing each other… it feels like my life is being squeezed. I can't take it… I would almost rather die now and get it over with." Sasuke thought. He gripped his kunai in his hands. "I... I can't take it..."

What happened next scarred Team 7 for life. It ended the innocence of two young genin, and it permanently transformed a laid back man into something new.

Sasuke Uchiha, heir to the Uchiha clan, stabbed himself in the throat. Thereby taking his own life. Naruto, Sakura, Tazuna, and Kakashi all looked on in shock as the Rookie of the Year killed himself because of the intensity of the fight.

"Wha... What happened?" Sakura stammered. "No, No, SASUKE!" yelled Sakura. As the images rushed to her mind and she fully grasped what she saw, Sakura fainted.

"This can't be happening" thought Naruto. "He can't be dead." Naruto took off running to check and see if by some chance Sasuke survived. All he saw as he neared the body was blood slowly leaving the neck and a puddle of blood near where the kunai connected with flesh. "This isn't real" Naruto thought despairingly.

Naruto fell to his knees by the body keening softly to himself. Tazuna looked on pityingly as he knew that such a loudmouth brat probably had never witnessed true death before.

Kakashi was in shock. The only thought going through his mind was that he had failed Obito. He had promised himself that he would train his team into something great. He would teach them teamwork, and the team would be another family for each of them. He saw his dreams crashing down around him.

Zabuza just started laughing, "Ha Ha Ha, I can't believe the kid couldn't even take the killing intent we were giving off. What are you Leaf bastards teaching kids these days. Drawing? That kid had to be the most pathetic excuse for a shinobi that I have ever seen." Zabuza couldn't stop laughing.

Kakashi snapped out of his fugue. He glared fiercely at Zabuza and then went in for the attack. Naruto finally got up from Sasuke's body and immediately went after Zabuza as well. "I am going to kill you!" he shouted.

Red chakra started swirling up Naruto's body as he raced to attack Zabuza. Zabuza looked on in confusion as that brat he had written off as a huge weakling was displaying modest speed as he charged after him. When Naruto got closes, Zabuza just back-handed him away. He would have immediately rushed straight back in, but he had the unfortunate luck to land straight on a tree trunk and pass out. Kakashi was thankful because he had worried that the 9-tails would break out.

Kakashi and Zabuza then started dueling, but because of Kakashi's state of mind he ended up taking hit after hit. By the time he got control over his emotions, his leg was already cut badly by Zabuza's sword. Zabuza tried to close in and take advantage of this fact, but Kakashi kept him away through precise jutsu use. Kakashi finally got lucky and his **great waterfall** jutsu succeeded in knocking Zabuza out. Before the finishing blow could be struck, a hunter-nim retrieved Zabuza and went on his way.

Kakashi surveyed the fight and saw that his team had been effectively taken out. Sakura was still out from seeing Sasuke die, Sasuke was dead by his own hand, and Naruto had been knocked out after drawing on the 9-tails chakra. This mission couldn't get worse. Then Kakashi passed out from chakra exhaustion, and it started raining. Tazuna just looked on in pity as he knew it was his fault the young boy died because he lied about the mission parameters. Tears mixed with the rain as they fell down his face. He dragged all the people out of the rain to underneath a tree nearby. He leaned back against and tree and closed his eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: don't own Naruto**

As the skies started clearing, Naruto woke up. He looked around because the last thing he remembered clearly was Sasuke dying, and he knew that couldn't be right. His confusion was only growing, however, as he saw Kakashi-sensei and Sakura laid out unconscious. He didn't see Sasuke anywhere. He got up and decided to take a look around. He jumped when he heard the bushes rustle.

"Yo, kid" Tazuna shouted. "Hey, old man, what happened?" Naruto queried. "The last thing I remember was a really big pain in my head."

"... I am sorry to tell you this but your teammate, Sasuke, was killed during the match between Zabuza and your sensei." Tazuna said. "What? So it wasn't a dream after all." cried Naruto. "For what its worth, I am sorry this happened kid. So sorry." Tazuna looked away, not being able to look the crying kid in the face.

"What happened to Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked as he walked over to the unconscious jounin. "Don't know, he fainted right after some guy with a mask came and took Zabuza away. What I do know is that we need to get these two to my house. Its only a couple of miles away." Tazuna said while going to pick up Sakura. "Ok," Naruto mumbled despondently, "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu". **

Two clones appeared and picked up Kakashi. The two slowly made their way to Tazuna's house deep in their own faults. Both were seriously going over what went wrong again and again in their minds. Then Naruto remembered, "What happened to Sasuke's body?"

"Crap, I knew I forgot something" Tazuna said. "Can you make some clones to go back and get him? I laid him out on the other side of the tree were I put you three." Naruto made another two clones and sent them back to get the person he had started to think of as a true friend.

They finally arrived at Tazuna's house after two hours of walking. They were greeted by a pretty young woman who was introduced as Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter. She helped get everyone settled inside by placing each person in their own room.

Naruto went into the room she led him like a man condemned. His world shaken, his confidence shattered, Naruto knew pain and he knew loss. He cried himself to sleep that night. Tsunami was told by Tazuna about what happened on the mission. The only thing she could do was gasp in horror at the price those young children had to face.

The next morning dawned bright and clear as if mocking the sorrow that had descended down upon a certain house in the woods. Sakura had woken an hour ago and had not left her room since. The only reason the people in the house knew she was awake was because of the broken sobs coming from the room. Around lunch when Tsunami was trying to get the two young ninja to come down and eat was when Kakashi finally woke up. He immediately grasped that he had suffered from chakra exhaustion, and he was now probably at the client's house.

He called the his two genin into his room though it took Sakura a while to come. "I am not going to lie to you. Sasuke is dead, and he is not coming back." Kakashi started only to be interrupted by Sakura's sobs. Naruto moved to comfort her and in her grief she accepted his hug. Crying into his shoulder, "Why, why Kakashi-sensei. Why did he have to die!" she sobbed.

Kakashi looked at her pityingly before he replied, "We are shinobi. Our lives are forfeit to our villages, and sometimes bad things happen. This just happened to be one of those times. Maybe if I had trained you better this would not have happened." he sighed. "Anyway, we will move on. We have suffered a loss to our team and a loss to our village, but we will move on and become stronger. Sasuke would have wanted above all else for us to get stronger, for he always wanted to make himself stronger. Don't give in to despair or anger, but get stronger and stronger and make Sasuke proud."

His team was giving him a funny look. Sakura's face kept changing between firm determination and outright horror. Kakashi felt lucky that her face settled on the former by the end of his speech. Naruto... well he couldn't really read Naruto's face. So many emotions were passing by on his face to give any shrink a run for his money to figure them all out.

"Kakashi-sensei" Naruto said. "Yes, Naruto?" Kakashi replied. "Make me stronger." Naruto said while looking him straight in the eye. "I will" Kakashi told him. This was the first time teacher and student had felt so connected as that moment. This was also the moment that the real team 7 was born. Not in the peace of school and teamwork, but in the fires of battle and death. And oh how those fires would burn in the future.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto**

_Italics means people thinking _and jutsu are **bolded**.

"The first thing I am going to teach you is how to walk on trees. This will help you control chakra better and make it easier to do techniques." Kakashi kindly explained. Naruto and Sakura looked at him with interest because they didn't know ninja could do that. Though as Naruto thought about it, ninja could make huge dragons come out of their mouth so why not walk up trees.

Kakashi demonstrated the technique for his impatient genin. He then threw a kunai for them to mark their progress. Naruto went to grab his kunai, but before he reached it, Sakura was already high up in the tree. "What the hell, Sakura. How are you already that far up?"

"It's really easy, Naruto. Just concentrate your chakra at your feet. If you use too much then you will be propelled off, but if you use too little then you will not stick." Sakura then jumped back to the ground.

"Good explanation, Sakura, but why are you now on the ground?" Kakashi asked while leaning against a tree. "Well, I am done, so I thought you could teach me something else." Kakashi just laughed at the ignorance of one of his remaining genin. "You're not done until Naruto is done. So get your butt back up there and keep going until Naruto gives up. I will tell you the truth. The only reason you are able to do this is because you have so little chakra. Of course you can control it. Now you will work on tree-climbing until your reserves start to build."

What passed for the next eight hours was utter hell for Sakura. Naruto wouldn't quit. He just kept getting back up no matter how many times he failed. By the time he finally collapsed, Sakura was already almost dead from chakra exhaustion because Kakashi would not let her stop. Naruto also finally completed the training. Kakashi guessed it was because how determined he was to gain strength.

"Well, it looks like I will be dragging both of them back to the house." The next moment a sigh could be heard filling the clearing as the lazy jounin tried to life both of his genin. "Man, Sakura, really weighs nothing. Time to fix that."

Naruto woke up the next morning bright and early. He went downstairs to find out what happened. Tsunami explained that Sakura would be out for another couple of days because of chakra exhaustion. Naruto just shrugged thinking that it was because of the fox that he was alright.

"Yo, Naruto." Kakashi said with a little wave from the front door. "I think it is time you learn a new technique because all you have now is the **kage** **bunshin**, and while I consider it a great technique, you need something to help out. That is why I have decided to let you decide what path you want to follow as a shinobi." Kakashi then walked out of the house and into the woods. Naruto followed with his interest piqued.

"Listen, Naruto. There are many different paths a shinobi takes in regards to jutsu. There are some shinobi who concentrate on only one or two jutsu there whole life, while others learn many jutsu over their careers. Some use only their kekkai genkai, and some others learn a particular style and stay with that style their whole life." Kakashi explained this all to a rapt audience of one. He then took a meditative position and continued the explanation.

"An example of a style would be the blast techniques of Iwa. These techniques create explosions of varying degrees to damage the enemy. Another type of shinobi is one who specializes in a certain field. There are some people who specialize in medicine, taijutsu, or even poison." Kakashi paused his explanation to look around the forest.

"Ninjutsu is truly amazing. Look around this forest, there are techniques that could literally create all these trees. There are other techniques that could cause the rain to fall or even some that would create a rain of fire. Truly your options are almost unlimited, Naruto. The only thing holding you back is your imagination." Kakashi truly didn't know what he created after he said that. With the pain of Sasuke's death still heavily in his mind, Naruto first came up with the idea that would truly make his name known after hearing those words.

"Sakura is going to be out for another couple of days, so why don't we test out your element to pass the time." Kakashi then reached into his back pocket and produced a sheet of paper. Confused, Naruto asked, "What do you mean by element, Kakashi-sensei? And what is that piece of paper for?"

Kakashi chuckled because Naruto asking questions reminded him of a time when everything had not yet gone wrong, and Sasuke was still alive. Kakashi knew though that the past was the past and no one could bring that time back. He had resolved the day after Sasuke's death to move on and live for the future. He had resolved to train up the other two members of team 7 and make them as strong as he could. He would not falter, he would not fail, for if he did he did not know what would remain of his sanity.

"Element affinities are something every ninja has. They are earth, wind, fire, water, and lightning. This paper, as you so call it, is actually paper created from a tree that was continuously fed chakra. This means that when someone, you in this case, runs chakra through the paper, that person could then find out his element affinity." He then handed the paper to Naruto and told him to run chakra through it.

Naruto looked at his sensei funnily, but then did as he requested and ran his chakra through the paper. The paper turned to dirt in hand. "Interesting," said Kakashi. "I am actually surprised that you have an earth affinity. I would have expected something else." Naruto was about to speak when Kakashi waved his hands and said, "Now don't worry, it isn't a bad thing that you have an earth affinity."

"Actually, every element has an opposite, so technically no element is better to have than any other. The paper, by the way, turns to dirt when someone has an earth affinity, crumbles with lightning, burns with fire, becomes wet with water, and sliced with wind. Fire trumps wind, wind trumps lightning, lightning trumps earth, earth trumps water, and water trumps fire. It is all a cycle. Of course even an earth element can defeat a lightning element if the right circumstances are met."

"Kakashi-sensei, how can earth beat lightning if lightning has the advantage?" Naruto was confused by all this element talk, but if he was right, then his element would work great with the idea he had earlier. "Well, if the level of technique is higher with the earth than the lightning then the earth could possible win, or you could just defeat someone with earth before they use their lightning. There are many ways to win, just use your imagination, Naruto."

"So, what do you think would be a good earth jutsu for you, Naruto?" As Naruto started pondering, Kakashi was thinking that Naruto had really gotten quieter after Sasuke's death. Before he would have been jumping around at the mere thought of a new jutsu, now he was quiet and actually putting some thought into what jutsu to learn.

"Kakashi-sensei, I think an attacking jutsu would be a great one for me to learn. I also put some thought into what paths shinobi take as they live their life as ninja. I have an idea what I want to do, but I am not sure it will work yet. I want to think about it a bit more before I tell you what it is." Naruto looked at his sensei like he was challenging him to ask him what he had in mind, but Kakashi let it slide for now.

"Ok, Naruto. I believe I have the perfect jutsu for you. At its weakest level, it is nothing more than a C-rank jutsu, but with your level of chakra, I believe you can take this jutsu all the way to B maybe even A-rank. This jutsu is called the **Earth Spikes. **It allows you to summon a spike of earth out of the ground to attack the enemy. With greater mastery of this technique and more chakra used, the spikes will increase in number. At first though, I don't expect you to reach over one maybe two."

Kakashi then went through the hand-signs slowly and performed the jutsu. A single spike appeared out of the ground and impaled a tree. Naruto let out a whistle of appreciation at the power behind the technique and thought of all the possibilities it would possess with multiple spikes of doom popping out of the ground.

Kakashi then went over the hand-signs again and again. '_Even thought Naruto is strongly driven, he can't just become a genius overnight I guess._' Kakashi thought with a sweat-drop as Naruto seemed to take an exceedingly long time to memorize the signs. After Naruto finally memorized the hand signs, Kakashi then explained how to shape the chakra. After an hour of hard memorization, Naruto finally attempted the jutsu.

"**Earth release**: **Earth Spikes**," Naruto called out as he finished the hand signs. Kakashi and Naruto looked on expectantly. After a minute of waiting patiently, Naruto finally go on his hands and knees to look at the ground more closely. Thankfully, he did find that the ground had grown a little bit. Kakashi just watched his student's antics with another sweat-drop forming.

"Ok, Naruto. Obviously, you need a little work on this jutsu, so I will leave you here to grow strong in it. Hopefully, Sakura will wake up in time for me to teach her something to help out this mission." Kakashi then walked back to the house to guard Tazuna, or take a nap, whichever.

Naruto looked at the earth he had raised. No matter how he looked at it, it really didn't look like a spike._ Maybe if he looked at it from a different angle? Na, it still wouldn't look like a spike.' _he mused. "Ok, lets add some chakra to see if that helps any." He then proceeded to add more chakra. It turned out that even with the tree-climbing exercise down, he still couldn't get the results he needed for his jutsu.

"Damn it! What the hell am I doing wrong!" After he yelled this to the air, Naruto did something he rarely ever did. He stopped to think. '_Ok, Kakashi-sensei told me how this jutsu works, and I think I have been doing it exactly like he told me. The problem is that every time I try the jutsu, it doesn't work. Maybe if I work on tree-climbing more I can better control what I am doing?'_

Naruto then proceeded to work on tree-climbing for the rest of the day. A total of another eight hour day focused solely on distribution of chakra to only his feet for a long period of the day made Naruto very hungry and tired. He headed back to Tazuna's house to eat and sleep. When he got there, he found Sakura still passed out. After eating he went straight to sleep.

"Alright, time to master a jutsu." was the first declaration of the day for a certain blond hair boy. He ran out of the house after a breakfast of rice. He then ran back to the clearing where he learned to climb trees. He immediately started practicing his jutsu. '_The completion of this jutsu will mean I am one step closer to becoming stronger. I will become stronger. I WILL_!'

After his internal monologue, Naruto threw himself into training with a will rarely seen in people. Failure after failure meant nothing to him. He kept trying the jutsu until he ran out of chakra. Even when he was out of chakra, he would struggle to do push-ups and sit-ups, and when his chakra returned, then he would just start back up on practicing the** Earth spikes **jutsu.

After hours of hard work, Naruto was finally becoming happier. "Yosh, I can finally make an earth spike. Now, lets try for more than one." The next couple of days consisted of Naruto training himself into the ground day after day. Whenever Kakashi went into the clearing that Naruto was training at, he couldn't help but be impressed with the extremes Naruto was pushing his body to.

When Sakura woke up, Kakashi started teaching her a low-level genjutsu. She trained almost as hard as Naruto in mastering her new jutsu. A week went by with both genin training as hard as they could. Both genin would not allow themselves to be week. They knew what the cost of weakness was: death. They would grow stronger and stronger, whatever the cost.


End file.
